NEWS ARCHIVE

On Tuesday Christijan Albers is due to make an announcement in Holland and there is speculation that this is to be a two-year deal with the Midland F1 team to race for the team for the next two seasons.

The banks involved in the Formula One group have been rather slow to understand that there is a busy media in Formula 1 but BayernLB's chief risk officer Dr Gerhard Gribkowsky has recently given an interview to formula1.com, which is owned by the Formula One group, about his bank's intentions in the sport.

There will be a press conference at Honda headquarters in Tokyo tomorrow announcing that Aguri Suzuki will enter a Honda second team in next year's Formula 1 World Championship. It is expected that this will confirm the involvement of the Softbank company and that Honda has acquired Menard Engineering Ltd.

As we suggested last week, it seems that Roger Penske's Indy Racing league team will be moving to Honda power in 2006. The team has been using Toyota engines in recent years but with Toyota withdrawing from the series at the end of next year Penske is switching early.

Softbank, Japan's biggest IT business, is rumoured to be the funding behind the rumoured Honda B team. The company is controlled by 48-year-old billionaire Masayoshi Son, who has been using sports to promote his business in the past few years, buying the naming rights to the Green Stadium in Kobe.

Sebastien Loeb's 10th victory of the season on the Rally de Catalunya at the weekend secured Citroen Sport its third consecutive World Rally Championship for Manufacturers - and Michelin's 38th WRC title.

As we suggested a month ago Dan Wheldon had been busy trying to get into F1 and there are reports from America - from the extremely well-connected journalist Robin Miller that Wheldon is about to sign an F1 deal that will see him testing in 2006 and racing in 2007.

There are stories circulating in the United States suggesting that General Motors has been approached about an American-based Formula 1 team. Given the company's financial situation they have not been very enthusiastic.

The first test for the Grand Prix Masters race took place at Silverstone. There was no sign of Alain Prost, who will now not be contesting the race in Kyalami. The fastest time of the two-day test went to Andrea de Cesaris, who was a fraction faster than Nigel Mansell.

Sixteen of the 23 members of the World Motor Sport Council remain unchanged with President Max Mosley, Deputy President Marco Piccinini (the former sporting director of Ferrari) and three of the seven Vice-Presidents - Michel Boeri (Monaco), Nazir Hoosein (India) and Jacques Regis (France) - all retaining their former roles.

Ferrari, the styling firm Pininfarina and Alcoa, the aluminium company which produces frames for Ferrari have been sponsoring a contest this year at design schools around the world - hoping to find the Ferrari of the future.

Michelin has issued a press release which attacks the FIA for being "incoherent" in its rule-making. The release comes on the day when FIA President Max Mosley will be elected for another four-year term.

The provincial government of the state of San Luis in central Argentina are saying that they want to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2007. They are currently in the process of revamping a local racing circuit which is known as the Circuito Rosendo Hernandez.

Celebrated British TV commentator Murray Walker is returning to the commentary box with Grand Prix Masters. Walker is to commentate of the Altech Grand Prix Masters South Africa race in Kyalami on November 11-13.

Silverstone was hoping to keep its traditional mid-July date for the British Grand Prix but the race organisers now accept that in order to minimise the impact of TV scheduling clashes with the soccer World Cup in Germany the race has had to be moved to June 11.

DDGP, the company that has been the promoter of the Belgian Grand Prix for the last couple of years, has been declared bankrupt by commercial court of Liege. The company has losses amounting to $11.75m and is in dispute with the local authorities over other payments.

There have been a number of minor changes to the rules and regulations of racing with one new rule which will not go down very well with celebrating teams. In future team personnel and spectators will be prohibited from climbing on the pit wall debris fence during or after any circuit race.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council met in Rome and confirmed rule changes for the 2006 season. The tyre regulations in F1 at the moment will be forgotten and drivers will be permitted to use seven sets of dry-weather tyres for each event. All tyres used for qualifying and race must be of the same specification.

The Formula 1 calendar has finally be published and although there are some changes, there are some bits of good news as well, notably that the season will not drag on into November as had been discussed but will end in Brazil on October 22. The bad news is that October is going to be a killer month for jetlag.

Gary Paffett will probably be defending his DTM championship next year for Mercedes-Benz but he still wants to be an F1 driver and is looking forward to a run in a McLaren-Mercedes as a reward for his work in DTM.

Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Ron Walker is accustomed to controversy, but in his latest skirmish in Melbourne he has been branded "yesterday's man" by a member of the Liberal Party, for which he has long been an important fundraiser.

Antonio Pizzonia is not thought likely to stay next year with the Williams team, even if there is a Friday testing job available. Pizzonia has had a difficult F1 career to date but has been associated with Williams since the beginning of 2001.

Juan Villalonga, the former chairman of Telefonica and the man who took the telecommunications giant into Formula 1 is to be one of the keynote speakers at the Formula 1 Sponsorship Forum in Monaco on November 16-17.

The news that Ukraine's largest steel mill has been bought by Mittal Steel for $4.8bn is interesting from a Formula 1 perspective as it gives a clear impression of the sort of money that the steel business can generate these days - and it begs the question of why Midland is not funding its F1 activities in a more active way.

Satoshi Motoyama last weekend tied up his fourth Formula Nippon title with a victory at Motegi. Starting from pole position the Arting Team Impul driver was chased in the early stages by Andre Lotterer (PIAA Nakajima Racing) and Sakon Yamamoto (Team Kondo).

Former Grand Prix winner Heinz-Harald Frentzen is in hospital in Mannheim following a big accident at the final round of the DTM series at Hockenheim yesterday. The 38-year-old has concussion, multiple bruises and muscle strains in his neck.

The Midland Group has announced that Nicky Pastorelli is to be the team's official test and Friday driver next year. The 22 year-old Dutchman tested for the team on three occasions last year, running at Silverstone in April, at Santa Pod in May and then at Monza in August.

There may be any number of benefits from the new FIA-inspired rear wings, which will - if all goes to plan - be introduced in 2007. The teams will no doubt soon have the wings in their windtunnels to see what the effect will be on the cars running closely behind.

Bernie Ecclestone will be 75 years old on Friday and the Formula 1 Commission decided to recognise the occcasion by offering him a large cake, transported into the meeting room by 10 young ladies, clad in different team clothing. Mr E seems to have enjoyed the event.

The Formula 1 Commission met in London on Tuesday to discuss the matters of the moment in Formula 1 and decided on a number of new measures for the future. There was no vote of no confidence in FIA President Max Mosley and, in the recent F1 tradition, everything was "very positive".

The latest accounts filed by the Formula One group have revealed some interesting new developments, including the appointment of Gerhard Mann as chief executive of Formula One Holdings. Mann was previously the man in charge of the Bayerische Landesbank's London office.

Britain may no longer rule the waves but Europe's island offshoot is certainly doing well this year in Germany with Gary Paffett having become the first British driver to win the DTM Championship and Lewis Hamilton ending his extraordinary year in the Formula 3 Eurocup with two wins to bring his tally to 15 victories in 20 races.

The Formula 1 Commission meets this morning to discuss the matters of the moment in Grand Prix racing but this is a big week for F1 and we are expecting a few interesting developments, not least some radical thinking for the 2008 regulations.

There are reports in Belgian that the race promoter DDGP (Didier Defourney Grand Prix) has run into major financial problems because of a dispute with the local authorities over how much they should be paid.

Takuma Sato is a man in demand at the moment in F1 circles, despite his somewhat erratic driving in recent months. The former BAR driver had an awful season which ended up in a flurry of accidents, penalties and unforced errors.

Former Ferrari driver Stefan Johansson used to be a Formula 1 regular back in the days when the Australian Grand Prix took place on the streets of Adelaide. This year he will return to the South Australian city driving in the Classic Adelaide Rally, which takes place between November 16-20.

Holland should be basking in the fact that it has two Grand Prix drivers at the moment. There are many countries in the racing world which cannot claim such a thing and thus it is rather sad that the two men in question seem to spend most of their time taking pot-shots at one another rather than looking at the bigger picture

Minardi driver Christijan Albers is one man who is going to be severely affected by the purchase of Minardi by Red Bull. This means that the only pay-drives available in the future will be with the Midland F1 team.

The Shanghai's city authorities have announced plans to develop their automobile industry so that it becomes less dependent on foreign partners. The automobile industry is seen as being at the centre of the city's five-year plan.

Cheever Racing, the Indy Racing League team run by former Formula 1 driver Eddie Cheever, has lost its sponsorship from Red Bull after four years. In the course of the partnership the team has won only one race, at Michigan in 2002, the first year of the partnership.

Chip Ganassi says that he is not planning to switch his team from the Indy Racing League into the rival Champ Car World Series next year. There had been speculation that Ganassi might change camps because Toyota is pulling out of the series.

Some time ago the FIA asked Formula 1 teams to accept rules which rev-limited V10 engines. The federation argued that this would slow the cars and cut costs. As early as 1996 FIA President Max Mosley proposed an engine rev limiter to be introduced in 2001.

All the talk about Kimi Raikkonen going to Ferrari has thus far been predicated on the idea that the Finn will not want to be at Maranello with Michael Schumacher but the latest word we are hearing is that Kimi is actually keen to go up against Michael and beat him, and by doing so prove who is the dop dog in the F1 circus.

Fernando Alonso won his seventh victory of the year in Shanghai and by doing so ensured that Renault would finally win its first proper Constructors' World Championship, a goal the company has been chasing since it first entered Formula 1 back in the summer of 1977.

Our spies in Japan are reporting that the much-vaunted second Honda team will be based at the old Arrows factory in Leafield, Oxfordshire. The 30-acre site was acquired in May 2003 by Menard Inc, the company run by home-improvement billionaire John Menard,

Michael Schumacher and Christijan Albers collided at speed as they were driving their cars to the grid before the start of the Chinese Grand Prix. Both cars were seriously damaged and both men will now switch to spare cars but will have to start the race from the pitlane.

Britain's top female racer Katherine Legge is to test for the Minardi team at Vallelunga at the end of next month. The 25-year-old from Northampton will be the first woman to have a meaningful F1 test since the days of Giovanna Amati back 1991.

Formula One Administration has announced a deal with Dubai's Union Properties for the establishment of a F1-theme park in Dubai. The plan is for Formula One World to be located at the MotorCity in Dubai.

Honda has announced that it will continue to supply engines to the Indy Racing League until the end of 2009. The announcement will come as a major boost for the series following the withdrawal of Toyota and Chevrolet.

There were rumours circulating in Shanghai that the second Honda engined team will involve Italy's Daniele Audetto, who was in the paddock on Saturday. Our sources in Japan continue to insist that while others may be involved in Europe, the money and the team principal will be Japanese.

Kimi Raikkonen may not be able to win the World Championship this season but if all goes well on Sunday the Finn can score his eighth victory of the year, help McLaren win the Constructors' Championship and make the point that but for mechanical failures the Drivers' World Championship would have been his.

The McLaren team dominated an overcast day of action in Shanghai with test driver Pedro de la Rosa coming out at the top of the timesheets, just clear of Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta. The two testers were a full second clear of the nearest challenger, Kimi Raikkonen.

Credit Suisse has confirmed that it will be remaining as a major sponsor of the BMW Motorsport when the Munich car company takes over Sauber. Peter Sauber will be an advisor for Credit Suisse and will attend four races a year.

The new Red Bull-owned Minardi team is to be renamed Squadra Toro Rosso. The team, which will be run by former BMW Motorsport man Franz Tost, will be renamed after the takeover of Minardi is completed on November 1.

Pedro de la Rosa set the pace at the start of practice for the Chinese Grand Prix with a best lap that was 1.8secs clear of the rest of the Formula 1 field, indicating that the order of those behind him was not very significant.

The Formula 1 circus has been going through a series of farewell parties this year in Shanghai. Much is being made of the departure of Peter Sauber and Paul Stoddart and the disappearance of the Jordan name but probably the most significant departure of all has been rather more low-key.

The Chinese government announced on Thursday that it has now formally ratified the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the international treaty which aims to stub out tobacco advertising.

The news in Shanghai is that the British Grand Prix is on the move from its traditional mid-July date. The problem has been caused by the decision that the United States Grand Prix be held on July 2 next year.

The Fiat empire has suffered a series of humiliations in recent years as the company has struggled to compete in the super-competitive automotive world. The empire, which includes Ferrari, is currently headed by former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo.

Four robotic vehicles succeeded in completing the Grand Challenge race at the weekend in the Mojave Desert in Nevada. The winning team from Stanford University took home a prize of $2m. The odd thing about the 150 mile race was that none of the 23 competing vehicles had a driver.

It was a sunny day. The grandstands were bursting. And motor racing was on the agenda. Real motor racing. Not the scrappy politics that has dominated Formula 1 for so long; nor the unhealthy domination of one team, but rather good old-fashioned spectacular motor racing.

There were rumours in Suzuka that the Emirates Airline, which is owned by the ruling family of Dubai, is looking very seriously about a Formula 1 sponsorship deal. This may be related to stories of a second Mercedes-Benz team.

France's Nicolas Lapierre scored a double win the A1 Grand Prix races at the Lausitzring in Germany, beating Switzerland's Neel Jani and Nelson Piquet Jr of Brazil in the first race and then seeing off Robbie Kerr (Great Britain) and Canada's Sean McIntosh in the second.

The Formula 1 Commission has not met since June 28 2004. A meeting was planned for December last year but was called off, apparently in order to stop nine of the 10 teams from forcing through rules for a control tyre and a restriction of testing, which had been agreed between them in Brazil.

The FIA sent a fax to the Formula 1 teams at Suzuka with a list of proposals for new regulations in 2006. These include a plan for a knock-out system in qualifying and the return of tyre changes in the races.

Former F1 team owner Tom Walkinshaw took control of the Holden Racing Team earlier this year, without much ceremony but on Sunday the team won Australia's biggest touring car race with Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly winning the Bathurst 1000 in their Holden Commodore.

Ralf Schumacher had luck on his side at Suzuka, taking pole position with a good lap in the middle of the session but his chief rivals never got the chance to take the fight to Toyota because a rain storm arrived at the circuit soon afterwards.

Giancarlo Fisichella ruined the story of the season at Suzuka on Saturday mornming when he pipped Narain Karthikeyan to the fastest time of the session in wet conditions. The Jordan driver has surprised everyone by going fastest ahead of Ralf Schumacher, Jenson Button, Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro.

The second session on Friday was interrupted by rain at Suzuka which left the fastest time of the afternoon going to Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta, who ran a lap which was a second faster than Michael Schumacher's Ferrari.

The Mafia has a code of silence, known as omerta, which forbids its members, on pain of death, to reveal secrets of the organisation. Secrets are kept because of fear of retribution if the information comes out.

American entrepreneur Peter Diamandis has announced plans to replace Formula 1 racing with something a little more exciting. Diamandis has established the Rocket Racing League which he says will feature rocket aircraft travelling at 300mph on a three-dimensional race course in the sky.

The word in Switzerland is that Sauber's head of vehicle engineering, test team and research and development, Jacky Eeckelaert is on his way to work for Honda, although it is not clear whether this will be Honda or the new second Honda team.

Advanced Micro Devices continues its drive into motor racing with a new deal to become the official technology partner of NASCAR. This will see the organisation using AMD computer technology on and off the track

Former Formula 1 sponsor DHL has signed a deal to sponsor the Penske Porsche in the American Le Mans Series. The new car, which will run in the LMP2 prototype class, will be debuted on October 15 at Laguna Seca by Porsche factory drivers Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr.

Honda is planning to supply a second Formula 1 team in 2006 - and the move makes a huge amount of sense, at least if you are a Honda executive. While many in F1 see the team as being a place for Honda to put Takuma Sato, there is probably a great deal more to it than that...

Honda has yet to come up with an official name for the rebranded BAR and while Honda Racing or something similar would be the obvious choice, there is a possibility that the company may go for something a little more exotic, and given Honda's history, one should not rule out some kind of reference to the word Dream.

The news from Japan is that Dome has now denied that it will be running the second Honda team next year and so speculation has moved on to the Super Aguri organisation, the group of racing teams which are run by former Grand Prix driver Aguri Suzuki.

Honda's announcement that it will be supplying a second Formula 1 team next year and that this will be a new operation is most interesting, given that there is no real evidence to suggest that a new team is up and running.

Former Cosworth chief designer Nick Hayes headed off to NASCAR in July to become the engine research and development director of Richard Childress Racing, which currently runs Dave Blaney, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton.

While Formula 1 teams continue to fight with one another and the promotion of the sport remains at the bottom of the "to do" list, the NASCAR Nextel Cup continues to show the way in terms of promoting the sport, particularly to the much-needed new generations.

British American Tobacco has confirmed that it has agreed the sale of its 55% stake in BAR Honda to the Honda Motor Company. The sale, which will be completed on December 31, means that Honda Motor will end up owning 100% of the team, which was established eight years ago.

More details are emerging of Honda's plans in F1 and we hear from Japan that there will be a second team next year, using V8 engines. This is expected to be a new team but there are no further details at the moment of who this may involve.

BAR driver Takuma Sato is reported to be driving Japan's entry in the A1 GP series later this year. The suggestion, published on the pitpass.com website, which is well-connected in A1 GP circles, is that Takuma will take over the Japanese car after the F1 season ends in three weeks from now.

There are reports in England that Coca-Cola may be interested in a major sponsorship programme in Formula 1. Such a deal has always made sense from a marketing point of view but nothing was ever possible because of Coca-Cola's aversion to Formula 1's fixation with tobacco.

Paul Stoddart's Oz Jet company is to sponsor the second Ford Performance Racing Falcon for the remainder of the year, starting at this weekend's Bathurst 1000. The OzJet logo will be featured across the sides of the Ford Credit FPR Falcon being driven by Greg Ritter and Cameron McLean.

The British Racing Drivers' Club, which owns the Silverstone racing circuit, home of the British Grand Prix, is advancing with its plans to completely redevelop the facility so that it is brought up to the same standard as the new circuits added to the Formula 1 calendar in recent years.